SmokeSentinel AI

How it fits together

SmokeSentinel AI, part by part

Scroll or tap a part. Press “See the 3D CAD design” to watch the model, built from our CAD, light each part up and show how it connects.

See the 3D CAD designShow the concept

Real-time 3D render · drag to rotate · final design may varySwipe sideways to rotate

1. 01

   The whole SmokeSentinel AI

   Cameras on a mast scan the horizon for smoke. The compute module checks each frame; a cellular modem sends the bearing to the owner.

2. 02Brain

   Raspberry Pi CM5

   The brain: it runs the smoke orchestrator program

3. 

   03

   Four wide cameras

   Take 12 MP stills of the horizon, one per compass side

   Raspberry Pi CM5 · CSI-2 ribbon cable · 12 MP still frames

4. 

   04

   Hailo-8L AI module

   Runs the smoke detector on every image tile

   Raspberry Pi CM5 · PCIe (M.2 slot) · Image tiles and detections

5. 05

   SHT45 humidity sensor

   Reads air temperature and humidity in a radiation shield

   Raspberry Pi CM5 · I²C (3 m shielded lead) · Temperature and humidity

6. 

   06

   nRF9151 cellular modem

   Wakes the CM5, sends alerts by LTE-M or satellite

   Raspberry Pi CM5 · UART, 1 Mbaud · Alerts, crops and commands

7. 07

   5 V step-down regulator

   Powers the CM5 only when the modem switches it on

   Raspberry Pi CM5 · 5 V power lead · 5 V, 5.5 A

8. 08

   All connected

   6 key parts, one program, and your phone

The idea

Solar camera nodes on a ridge and a water tower spot wildfire smoke and send the owners a bearing and a photo

How the parts connect

SmokeSentinel AI, wired up

Every part, what links it to the brain, and how the data reaches your phone. A solid line is a cable; a dashed line is a radio link.

The program

What controls SmokeSentinel AI

for (;;) {
  for (const cam of cameras) {
    const still = await libcameraStill(cam.id)           // AF locked at infinity
    const band = cropBand(still, cam.horizonMask)        // about 4608 x 900
    const hits = await hailo.infer(tile(band, 640))      // smoke class
    tracker.update(cam.id, hits)                         // IoU + growth + persistence
  }
  for (const c of tracker.confirmed()) {
    if (inMuteZone(c) || sunGlare(c)) continue
    modem.write(alertJson(c, cropJpeg(c)))               // UART to nRF9151
  }
  await sleep(fireWeatherMode ? 30_000 : 60_000)
}

To your phone

How the data reaches SmokeSentinel map and alerts

Phone push, SMS, voice call and web map

1. Mast head
2. LTE-M · MQTT/TLS
3. IEMI cloud
4. Push, SMS or voice call
5. Owner's phone

Key specs

Targets for production units; they may change during development.

Pricing

Target pricing. Subscription includes LTE data, portal and model updates; satellite messaging is billed at cost. Mast and installation quoted per site.

Indicative launch pricing in USD, excluding taxes and shipping. Final pricing is confirmed before any balance is charged.

1. 29 Oct 2026, 14:45LatestRanches, property-owner groups and rural co-ops in fire country often have no camera watching their land, while agency smoke-camera stations cost about $50,000 a station a year (SmokeSentinel DESIGN.md market check, TechCrunch and MIT Technology Review).

   • Drawn idea plan (idea.json): a Hill Country ranch from above, with its pastures, wooded creek, ridge, water tower, ranch house and county road; pins for the Ridge node on its mast, the 360 node on the water tower and the owner group phones at the house, with the two bearings crossing at a plume
   • The product picture is now this drawn plan instead of the plain fallback card; drawn from the design notes, not the CAD
   • What the plan keeps from the market work: the nodes are a gap filler that tips off people; a person calls 911 and the node never dials it, and it never replaces agency cameras or evacuation orders
   • Next: close-out C9 (recommend the first product to the owner) from 30 Oct 00:00; until then more drawn idea plans for catalogue products

   See it in 3DFull research and design

2. 27 Oct 2026, 08:59Fruit and wine growers next to woods face three jobs in the same summer: smoke from a fire in the hills, pests to count every week, and crews working in heat under California rules (shade from 80 °F, Cal/OSHA §3395; act on smoke from AQI 151, §5141.1). Agency smoke cameras cost about $50,000 a year, camera traps are sold per trap per season, and a Kestrel heat meter is about $554; our own three products for it cost $5,898 and $224 a month.

   • Combined into FieldEdge (https://iemilabs.com/products/fieldedge/); SmokeSentinel AI itself is unchanged

   See it in 3DFull research and design